Goodman’s Resident Dramaturg on how her work gives texture and specificity to a production. Consider the riddle of Neena Arndt’s work at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago. She conducts research that informs designs but doesn’t design sets or costumes or soundscapes. She often appears on Goodman stages but is not an actor. Arndt is a dramaturg who researches playwrights, characters and their lives, relevant social and political events, and other themes for use by actors, designers, directors, and sometimes press offices. She might even have a hand in refining a play adaptation. She is part of the community that...

Dramaturgs have always been part of each team working at PlayPenn. But since 2012, its Rent-a-Dramaturg program, has rendered them rentable, and they’re everywhere. Sure, the 12-year-old new play development conference focuses on the primacy of the playwright, or what the organization’s associate director Michele Volansky referred to as “the old-fashioned ye olde text-based work.” But dramaturgy is built into its fabric, and with Rent-a-Dramaturg, playwrights and dramaturgs are matched in working pairs for feedback sessions. Alchemy, curation, and community Rent-a-Dramaturg rates range from $200 to $250 (for script review, consultation, and a post-revision conversation). Abby Millager, a poet from Newark,...